Rubber heel



April 7, 1925.

J. G. TUFFORD RUBBER HEEL Filed Dec. 23, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet l dOHNGEORGE TUFFORD INVENTOR 64; ATTORNEYS April 7, 1925.

J. G. TUFFORD RUBBER HEEL Filed 065;. 23, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 JOHNGEORGE TU'FFORD INVENTOR.

44- A TTORNEYS A ril 7, 1925.

J. G. TUFFORD RUBBER mm.

Filed Dec. 23. 1921 UOHN QEORGE TUFFORD BYE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEN TOR.

- A a ATTORNEYJ.

- 1 will; main Patented Apr. 7, 1925.

sfT a' il Es. PATENT owne s.

JOHN eizonois urfisonn, or ELYRIA, OHIO.

To, all 11371 Be it l5 own hat LJ HN Gnonon RUBBER HEEL.

Application filed December 23, 1921, Serial'No. 524,516.

071%,. it may] concern} 7 Turroiznfabitizen of the United States,residing' at El r'la, in the county of Lorainand certain new and usefulImprovements in Rubber Heels,

of which the following is a lull, clear, conv andexact description, suchas will enc ise, I

able those skilled in the art to which my.

. invention same; I

. 1 relates, heels, and

more particularly to iyhatare known in the art j as rubber whole.heels,".s aid heels being F adapted to be directlyattached toithecuryed 'apperta-ins' to. make. and use the heel or; rear [part Ofthe sole a shoe.

K 1 km provide such, m ybe-dir ct ns-s which nt j fl9 m) p f l ent-rhfeet-io el iibber-swhq sty-W 1 at a ihe e he area h 0f qr i qleihyma ls-9 qthertte l ng means, said .nailsbeingdpiven throughyopem 'iit ierubberheel into the'gsaid sole,a'nd

.. t is jurthermore an objectcof my inoeheel with they comein Ireference to vention toienable heels of this nature to maintain,

without the use of cement, tight dges continuously while in use, saidtight edges being alone Secureththrough the inherent,resil"ency of the'-rubbe'r material of which theheel is made;v

mallylan cavity than visar'ched surface. of the shoe heel so that whenthe rubbe' vexlyj archedg heel portion of the sole, a partial,flattening .ot'; the said rubber heel concavity the iconcave attachingface ,ofthe heel into; contact tvi'h the said convexly arched oppos :ingfiacesmt-the shoe heeh, Ithen position.

nails or other attaching nieans,-,

will be required, in; order to bring concave I face; will be maintainedpartially flattened,

to,;resume 1ts normal unstressed condition and so that the efirort ofthe heel tain'the tightness of the seam be- S cu d-n l make a gh heel issecuTed to the said conso that the tween the heel and the bottom of theshoe. The curi 'ature of the attaching face is of such degree and kindthat the attempt to pressyit closely against the commercial shoe heelsor rear sole ends, will result in such flattening oi the attaching faceof the rubber heel that the seam will be sealed hlyfhe. retractiveeffort of the rubber in the In the embodiment shown, that; part of theattaching face towards the outside edge Outside the line of nail holescurved ycry sharply thusinsuriilg atight clinging ac tion by the edge ofthe rubber heel to the leathei'.heel all during the use thereof eventhough Ithe curvature o f the shoe heel or. rear end of "the sole Imay:yary- Within cartain liinits whiclr I find in; practice toqbe thepractical limits of commercial heels. increasing the, cury ature, that;is, by ream ing the i adiiis curvature the edge is approached,theasealiugefi'ect at the edge is ;ii1tensified. i I

. Other: obj ec ts of V I I I my invention and the invention itself?will be. more apparent by um specification and drawings, which arev apart of this specification, and which illustrate an embodiment of myinvention In these drawings.

Fig. 1 showsv a bottom plan view cl :1 rubber shoe heel embodying myinvention. Fig. 2 shows a top planview of the heel. Fig. 3shows a frontelevation 01 the heel, the heel being shown as inverted, or rather as inthe position taken when the heel is to be attached to thebottoin of aninverted a rear elevation of the heel Fig, 4c shows Fig.5 shows asideelevation of the .heel.

Fig. 6 shows a transverse sectionof the r'ubber shoe heel taken on theline 6-6 of Fig. 1. I I I I I Fig. 7 shows a longitudin al, medialsection of the heel taken on the line 77v of Fig. 1. I I

Fig. 8 shows a side elei ational new of the rubbershoe heelplacedupright, and a pertion of t here-ar of a shoe placed over the shoeheel, the View being" talien before the heel is attached to the bottomof the shoe 1W by the securing nails, the heel being in its undistorted,normal shape.

Fig. 9 shows a transverse section on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 shows a longitudinal, medial section of the shoe heel and shoerear portion, illustrated-in F i'gIlf, 1'

Figfllisa side elevational view of'the rear part of a shoe, with theshoe heel atvided in the heel.

Fig. 12 is a section on the line 12 '12 0f Fig. 2.

Referirng now to tl1e' drawings,inthe various figures of which likeparts are des ignatedby like reference characters, at 2 is shown arubber heel adapted to be secured to the 'con'vexly, arched-bottom 3of'the shoe, said heel 'havingsidese and 5, a breast 6, a rear side 7 a,tread face 20, and' an attaching face 8,and which attachingface containsa c'entrallyidisposed'recess,9.

' The recess 9 is preferably,substantially annular in shape, the sidesbeing irregular V shaped, there being abutments at and 31 at-- thesides, -3'2 and'f33' at [the rear ico'r'ri'ers',

and 34a'nd 35 cat" f'forward' corners of the recess these abutments"being provided in order that th'e be' drivenjtherethrough,tliejni'aterial of the 'ab'tit'me'ntshavfl ing nail head siipportihg washers embedded therein; "Thus the nails f be removed further fr oii rthe sideedgesof the'heeli This gives thefheel igre'ziter life andtrimming area, since most of the Wear is at the edges andgene'rallyatthe rear edges of the heel; also the cobbler'can keep fewer sizesofheels in stock, since, on account of the greater trimming'area, alarger heel can be trimmed to fit'asmaller shoe,"than"is commonly thecase. In the center of the socalled annular 'recess 9, there is provideda raised, substantially circularportion of rubber in the recess, the topof which is substantially ashigh, relative to the bottom of the recess,as the top sides of the recess walls; shown at 36.

'lhatportion of the attaching face which is adapted to come into contact'with the convexly arched shoe heel 3 when the rubber heel 2 isflattened against the'said heel, comprises that portion 10 of the facebetween the said recess and the outer edges. The portion 10 of theattaching face extends all around the outside of the recess and is arelatively narrow portion, trans versely curved, the curvature beingrelatively sharp compared with the curvature of the shoe heel, and withwhich it is adapt edto contact. therefore, attached to thebottom of ashoe, as illustrated in Figs. 7 to 11 inclusive, the nails will bedriven through the rubber heel from the tread facelside, said nailspentrat-.

ing' the attaching face portion, 10, interlVhen the rubber heel is,

mediate the attaching face outer edges and the recess 9, so that thetransverse arches will be caused to be held down at intermediateportions, causing a partial flattening of the said arches, and powerwill be transmitted to the outer edges of the rubber heel, to sealtheseam at these edges, 1 said seam being continuously sealed by theretractivc efliort of the rubber in the heel. The portion tached as bynails to the shoe openingsprol0 ;of the attaching face about the centralportion of the attaching face is, in the embodiment illustrated,somewhat of the nature of a groove, the outer edges 21 being relativelyelevated to the inner edges 22,

curved onaflonger"radiusflthan more 'dis tant portions nearer the. outeredge :of the heel, certain} advantages being gained" by suchconstruction, although myl invention .in

its broader phases will be had in a construc tion wherein thedegree ofcurvature of the so-called groove constituting the portion 10 of theattaching face: of the heel isthe same near-the recess as nearer theouter edge.

The tread face of the heel is preferably curved. both transversely andlongitudinally, my invention broadly considerechbeing capable ofembodiment, however, in heels whose tread face is only curvedlongitudinally andnot in a direction at right angles thereto, or inheels whose tread face has transverse curvature only, but not in alongitudinal direction at right angles thereto.

However, my preferred embodiment has a tread face as illustrated curvedin all directions, and I prefer also, as illustrated, to make the heelwith a tread face having the same radius of curvature in everydirection, as I find that such a heel with an attaching face asillustrated and described herein accomplishes the most efiieient resultwhen secured to the bottom of a shoe heel, not only in the tightnesswith which the seam is sealed at its edges, but in securing a tight seamwith the minimum of necessary trimming, and at the same time producing aheel, which, when secured by nails positioned 'as"illustrated, will havethe least tendency toward removing the said nails since the stresseswhich otherwise might be effective to r emove the nails in otherconstructions, are herein more nearly balanced.

Also, I find that with the attaching face scribed, a true portion of asphere, that:

substantially as illustrated and with a tread face which issubstantially, as above do where such a heel is attached to the bottomof a shoe heel as ordinarily shaped and as such shoe heel shapes mayvary in practice, accomplishes *the additional result of securing asubstantially flat tread face when the heel is put into use.

N ail receiving openings are exposed on the tread face, being arrangedso that nails driven therethrough will pierce the arched portion 10 ofthe attaching face, to partially flatten the same, to bring its wallsinto intimate contact with the contacting faces of the heel of the shoe.When so secured in place, the heel by its inherent resiliency, in itsefforts to regain its normal shape, will compress the portions of theattaching face of the heel against the shoe heel, to seal the seam allaround the heel, so as to prevent the ingress of dirt and moisture tothe interior spaces between the sole and the rubber heel, such, in theembodiment illustrated, comprising the recess, 9. Also, when the nailsare in place, the arched tread face will be caused to be substantiallyflat, being so held against the retractive force of the rubber in theheel by the nails driven through the rubber heel into the bottom of theshoe.

By my improved construction, the effort of the nails is transmittedthrough the resilient rubber of the body of the heel to the seams at thebreast and rear edge portions of the heel to keep them tight; eventhough no nails are used at the front and rear longitudinal medialportions. The omission of the rearmost nail, as illustrated in thisembodiment, provides more space on this portion of the rubber heel,which is most subject to wear, to wear away, without causing securingnails to be exposed, and which difiicultly is experienced with otherconstructions, but which difliculty would be entirely absent in theconstruction of the embodiment herein illustrated.

The heelmay be trimmed to fit the shoe sole perfectly, either before, orpreferably after, attachment, the edge scaling function being operativeto seal the same after trimming, as before, and the nails beingrelatively remote from the edges permit considerable trimming of theedges to be accomplished, without exposing the said nails at the edges.I

The heel illustrated and described herein is constructed substantiallyentirely of rubher or like material and does not require a reinforcingmetal plate or like reinforcement to secure the seam sealing effect;such reinforcements are a source of' trouble in a number of Ways amongwhich they do not maintain the seams tightly sealed, they prevent theresilientrubber material when bent to regain its normal -edged"seamsea-l in'g position, they make theheel less a'eresilient, that "is,harder to walk upon, and they limit the trimming area as well as to makethe heel heavier. i I

V-hile the heel of my invention may be trimmed to a maximum degree, theheel will find a very advantageous use where suiticient sizes are keptin stock so that little or no trimming will be required in many cases.In most heels, the heels after being secured in place on the bottom ofthe shoe heel, the side edges are not straight as are the side and rearfaces of the heel of inyinvention which after attachment are vertical,and this construction limits the amount of trimming required.

Also, the shape of the heel as illustrated insures that the bottom ortread face is substantially level after the heel is secured to thebottom of a shoe; this contributes to ease in walking on the heel andmakes a more comfortable heel to walk upon.

Having thus described my invention, I am aware that numerous departuresmay be made from the specific embodiment thereof, herein illustrated anddescribed, for the purpose of illustrating and explaining my invention,but which departures would be within the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

A whole type rubber heel adapted for attachment to the convexly roundedbottom of a shoe sole, having a lower convex tread face, and an upperconcave attaching face, said attaching face comprising an approximatelyU-shaped grooved border portion extending parallel with and directlyadjacent the sides and rear of the heel the groove thereof being archedtransversely of its length, the arching thereof being sharper than thearching of the convexly rounded shoe sole bottom portion with which itis adapted to contact, and the groove being transversely inclined fromthe side and rear top edges of the heel downwardly and inwardly towardsthe central portion of the attaching face thereof, the central portionof the concave attaching face within the grooved border portion beingsubstantially nonre-entrant above the plane of the lower most edge ofthe grooved portion, a plurality of nail receiving openings through thetread face adapted to? direct heel securing nails through the saidgrooved portion of the attaching face with the nail heads held in thebody of the heel, the conformation of the said tread and attaching facesand the placing of the nail directing cpenings being such that nailspassed through such openings and into the convexly rounded bottom of ashoe sole will so distort the heel from its normal form as to bring thesurfaces vof the heel groove portion and of the opposed shoe sole bottominto intimate contact, the tread vface' being thereby made approximatelyflat, and

[he re-aotion of the distorted resilient rub-' the seam between thecontacting rubber heel side and'rear. edges and the shoe sole bottom.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name this 17th day ofDecember,

- JOHN GEORGE T'UFFOR'D.

